The Afterglow
As I sit here on my flight reflecting on my mazing weekend in Dallas, TX for the first ever USA version of the OneVoice Conference, I am struck by how wonderful the weekend really was and how glad I am that I made the trip. From the opening ceremonies, J. Michael Collins and the Gravy for the Brain team set the tone that as a voice over community we are all better together and we are truly OneVoice. JMC made is feel inspired and proud, and having shout-outs for my panels and my own participation in the panels I was in meant so much to me personally. The entire weekend was tremendous. From time with friends, to educational panels, to a beautiful black-tie gala with star announcers, to time exploring Dallas, I left feeling like I did what I came to do.
The Camaraderie
From the start, I planned to attend the OneVoice with my “VO Family,” my closest industry friends. Outside that super tight circle, many who I love were attending as well. When I say this, I mean the people that you wish you saw all the time and could see in person regularly. Just the fact that I have so many friends like this at the conference is a blessing. On top of that, I made new friends that I hope that I keep in touch with! At events like this, you just click with people.
The Panels
I am so proud that I got to present on two panels, both of which were on the main stages and both were streamed internationally. The first panel was “How to Build a Kickass Career With a Powerhouse Accountability Group.” It sounds like a long name but we had a lot to get in. I was on the panel with my actual accountability partners and besties Shelley Avellino, Diana Birdsall, Michelle Blenker, and Dearbhla Trainer. Melanie Murphy was the amazing moderator. Two members of our group did not participate for personal reasons. The panel was great. We got to interact with a lot of the audience and speak to a lot of attendees afterwards. I felt like we got our message across, which is that as much as you think you can accomplish alone, you will do so much better in the group!
The other panel that i was on was OneVoice’s first ever Radio Imaging panel. I was so excited to be the only woman on this panel, and my other panelists are pretty impressive including the legendary AJ McKay, Brent “Staxx” Williams from Z100 in NYC, and SOVAS winner Paul Cartwright. This panel was both fun and informative and it went really fast.
The Schmoozing
I think I literally talked for four days straight. From meals to coffees to sessions to talking in between sessions, the “catching up” just went on and on. Whether we were networking or just being friendly, not a moment was waisted. As a working mom, I felt badly because every time my kids called I was with someone. Many of my friends made even more time for schmoozing than I did, as they were able to stay up for events like the fiesta which was after my bed-time.
Texas
While the conference in and of itself would have sufficed, I actually got to see a little of the Dallas area too! One night I had dinner with my besties out in Grapevine. Historic Grapevine is a quaint and thriving town with oodles of personality. We are in a fun place that had chili that was way too hot for this Jersey girl and got to explore the area. We also got to see McKinney, where Diana Birdsall lives. We went out to eat, went shopping, and had boozie ice cream, which is apparently a thing! I got chocolate liqueur sorbet since I don’t eat dairy. I loved McKinney. The town was beautiful and had a warmth and sophistication that I was not expecting. It reminded me of main line towns in Philly where I am from. I was so glad to have more time with my friends, too.
Hopes
Somehow leaving home and wearing actual clothing instead of gym clothes for several consecutive days does something to your psyche that you didn’t know you needed until it happens. Being present got my wheels turning in so many ways. It already has me thinking about future conferences and how I can contribute. It has me thinking about my role in the industry. I was also left with a yearning to keep in touch. I spend a lot of time as a voice over coach helping people refine their goals and shape their focus. As I enthusiastically look forward, I need to think about what my goals really are for myself and what I need to do to get there.
Every Friday at 2 PM Diana Birdsall and I co-host a Clubhouse in our room “Ask the VO Coaches.” I am always excited about our awesome panels, and every week I might say it’s “the best one ever,” but holy smokes was this an awesome panel! This week, just in time for your summer get-away, we talked about travel rigs and what gear you need and what you don’t need to bring with you on that much needed trip. Whether you’re going to the beach, to the mountains, or just to see family you missed during covid, we talked about it all, and we talked about it with some of the best in the field! We had George- the-tech Whittam, Dan Leonard, Dave Scott, and Rick Wasserman. So, here’s a review of some of what we chatted about in case you missed our beyond awesome chat!
My Rig
I also recommend having practical hooks in your book. I have a hook for my cans and a hook for my wires. It helps keep things neat and organized.
I also do love having Source Connect. So many clients and agents require it. I occasionally need to have support sessions, and they do offer great support from Source Connect. Again, like with Zancastr, there are no latency issues. There are, though, sometimes quirks connecting. Sometimes people are confused with how to use it. If you are not both connecting with the same sample rate, for example, you won’t connect smoothly and it will be an issue, so that all needs to be decided ahead of time.
I wish I know how important a good travel rig is. It took me five years to get my travel rig to sound as good as my home set up. That is WAY too long. If you are just starting in voice over during the pandemic, I realize it is hard to imagine actually packing up and leaving home, but when we do, the rig matters.
It happens, even in the time of covid, we leave our studios. As a professional voice talent, we have work we can predict, and the joy of work we cannot predict, that comes in at a moment’s notice and can have a pretty tight turn around time. As a working mom, whether I’m home or traveling I’m always juggling my responsibilities as a small business owner and my role of a mom, this year more than ever. This year, my high school juniors are looking at colleges. And as if looking at colleges for twins is not challenging enough, their interests do not overlap at all. Emma is targeting schools with Speech programs and STEM programs. Jack is looking for International Relations and Russian. So, we are doing two completely different college searches at once. What does this mean for me as a voice actor? It means I’m leaving the booth for the first time in a year and I need to be prepared. Voice over work should never prevent travel, it just means you need the right set up for your voice over travel rig and to take the necessary steps when planning.
The point of the travel rig is to sound like you sound in your home studio when you are on the road so that you can provide clients with a continuity of service. I have tweaked my rig quite a few times over the years, and finally invested in a quality set up that I am pleased with. I now bring:
I will start by saying that the past five years have flown by and while I have had to seek help with my studio gear, my MacBook Air has been dependable in every way since its purchase. I have not had issues with my computer. I have been extremely happy since switching from a PC to a Mac, and have been extremely happy with the MacBook Air specifically. So, why switch? Well, as per my blog last week, I made a lot of gear upgrades in my studio recently. The early 2015 MacBook Air I have only has one Thunderbolt B port and NO, as an not a single one, Thunderbolt C ports, and it was not possible to have both my pre-amp and my studio monitor hooked up simultaneously, while both are essential. So, I made the choice to upgrade.
The set up went well. It took me most of the day. It arrived around 10:30 am and by dinner I was up and running, and the timing was pretty good. Coming the Friday of a holiday weekend is ideal as the bookings I have for live sessions will not be until next week anyway. I had heard some horror stories of industry friends recently setting up new computers, so I was not optimistic or overly enthusiastic and I expected it to take a while. The initial backup from iCloud went ok. Then I had to install my UAD software. Since I had just done this with Tim last week on the laptop, I still remembered how and it was not fast but I was able to do it. I was worried about getting my settings onto the iMac, but I was actually able to use airdrop to move them from one computer to the other. Twisted Wave setup was a little tricker for me. I spent a while putting in my many keyboard shortcuts. I could not figure out why my effects stack would not open in its entirety. I realized I had to find my initial izotope purchase, download that, enter the ilok, and then open the effects stack. I was getting a little nervous that I would need a session with Tim, but to my own surprise I was able to get it going! I am happy to report that the monitor in my booth connected with ease and I am so thankful to have my booth in working order. I am still making tweaks like syncing my drop box and connecting my pay to plays in my chrome short cuts, but for the most part it is set up how I want it!
Rome was not built in a day, and I am sure that in the coming days and weeks I will realize other applications that need to be installed on the iMac. I am thankful, though, that I accomplished as mush as I did at the start. My plan is that the desktop will live in my office space and my MacBook Air will now reside upstairs and will also be dedicated to my travel rig. It has only been since Friday, 48 hours, but so far this seems like a really wonderful upgrade. Ultimately, this isn’t about just changing computers, right. I had a setup that was working until it wasn’t. I made a change. I used to really fear change, but I know know (more than understand, actually know) that change makes me better and presents opportunity.
When everything is working perfectly in your booth, your bookings are solid, and you are happy with your sound, why shake things up with a gear upgrade? Well, life is not always so cut and dry in the voice over world. While I was really proud when I upgraded to the Avalon M5 preamp, and loved the way it sounds with my Neumann TLM 103 microphone, it is not portable. I’m at a point in my career where if I travel, which happens when there is not a pandemic, I need to sound the way I sound in my booth when in my travel rig. With an Avalon preamp and a Neumann mic, I sound pretty awesome. Even with a VOMO, it is hard to emulate that sound without bringing the Avalon, and if you have ever been in the presence of an Avalon then you know it is not portable. Thus, my journey began.
One of my VO besties, and all around favorite people on the planet, the amazing Kim Handysides, suggested that I work with the VO Tech Guru Tim Tippets. Kim said Tim does amazing stacks and would set up my travel rig. Initially I had not planned to change my in studio set up with the Avalon M5, just the rig. I reached out to Tim. Tim is amazing because he could just set you up and give you the answer, but instead he spends the time to educate you so that you understand the rationale behind his suggestions and why he is guiding you down a certain path.
To Start, I was limited because I was working on a 2015 MacBook Air. Even though my MacBook Air is running really well (knock wood), it only has one Thunderbolt 2 connection and the rest are USB ports. This posed some logistical challenges in terms of suggestions Tim wanted to make. Further, at the time, I was set up to mirror in studio on a monitor. So my MacBook Air stays in an office space outside the studio and I have a great monitor in my booth.
So this brings us back to the travel rig set up, which is also pretty exciting. After all, this entire journey started because of the travel rig, right? So, what is my travel rig set up now: